I think they said that out of fear (or envy) of Miyazaki's hand-drawn triumph.
Seriously, IMHO Yamaguchi forgot to realize that
storytelling and artistry -- whether hand-drawn or digitally-vectorized -- is what marks the difference between triumph and failure of a title. Furthermore I think there's also a kind of a "generation gap" among viewers, which may account for the lopsided rating figures.
As I was posting this thread I was to add Iwata's side, but I'm not the kind who post very long articles, hence only the concluding quote. The rest (the "too long" version) is on my blog.
I'm one of those people willing to buy for the sake of having the genuine article or even watching a dubbed show on local TV (both acts to support the industry a very long way), but some younger cheapskates think otherwise.